---
title: Above the bough where the ball was hung was another bough much thick… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Above the bough where the ball was hung was another bough much thicker, which he knew could not break with his weight; and by holding on tight to this with all his four paws, he could just manage to touch the ball with his tail. Who acts: cat. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 29, sentence 27

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Above the bough where the ball was hung was another bough much thicker, which he knew could not break with his weight; and by holding on tight to this with all his four paws, he could just manage to touch the ball with his tail.

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**Who acts:** cat · **What happens:** hang, be, know, not break, hold on, manage · **To what, where:** ball, bough · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (cat), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg3282:29:27
# text = Above the bough where the ball was hung was another bough much thicker, which he knew could not break with his weight; and by holding on tight to this with all his four paws, he could just manage to touch the ball with his tail.
1	Above	above	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	bough	bough	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
4	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	8	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	hung	hang	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl:relcl	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	det	_	_
11	bough	bough	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
12	much	much	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	thicker	thick	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	11	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	obj	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
18	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
20	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	weight	weight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
26	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
27	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	41	advcl	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	RP	_	27	compound:prt	_	_
29	tight	tight	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	27	obl	_	_
32	with	with	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
33	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	36	det:predet	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
35	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	36	nummod	_	_
36	paws	paw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
38	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
39	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
40	just	just	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
41	manage	manage	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	parataxis	_	_
42	to	to	PART	TO	_	43	mark	_	_
43	touch	touch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	xcomp	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	_
46	with	with	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
48	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hang** | past · passive |  | the ball |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | another bough |  | the bough |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **know** | past | cat | another bough |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **break** | could |  |  |  |  |  | with cat's weight | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with weight=Instrument |
| 5 | **hold on** | gerund | cat *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to this; with cat's four paws; tight *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **manage** | could | cat |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **touch** | to-infinitive | cat *not said here* | the ball |  |  |  | with cat's tail | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent ball=Theme with tail=Instrument |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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